elephant pals to move together

Elderly pair at Tucson zoo will be relocated to San Diego refuge

Thanks to the San Diego Zoo, two decades-long elephant pals from Reid Park Zoo in Tucson will join their elderly brethren later this year at San Diego’s Elephant Odyssey.

The planned transfer, which has been in the works over the last few weeks, was originally conceived as a relocation of just Connie, a nearly 45-year-old Asian elephant who would live out her last years of life at Elephant Odyssey, a refuge for older elephants.

Concern from the local community, led by two Tucson animal activists and former game-show host Bob Barker, ultimately led to a change of heart, and now Connie and her companion of 29 years Shaba will be moved together. A date has not yet been determined, zoo officials said.

“Although our intention was to keep Shaba here, we understand the message of keeping the two girls together resonated with our community,” said Vivian VanPeenen, curator of education for Reid Park Zoo.

“While we’re not doing this in response to animal rights activists, we understand there is concern. Since this plan meets all our goals, it’s an acceptable alternative. The goal is to provide each with more space, a larger herd and to be cared for by (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) experts.”

While not part of an overall swap, plans are also in the works to bring a small herd of four or five breeding African elephants from Safari Park to the Tucson zoo’s nearly completed African elephant habitat, built at a cost of $9.7 million.

The transfer will fit in with Safari Park’s interest in mimicking the natural evolution of a herd in which an older female and her offspring will eventually break off and create another herd, explained San Diego Zoo spokeswoman Christina Simmons. It’s still undecided how many of the 17 elephants at Safari Park will head to Arizona, she said.

“We still have to observe them to get a sense which group will do best,” she explained.

One issue that potentially stymied the transfer of Connie and Shaba, a 36-year-old African elephant, was a zoo accreditation standard that requires separating African and Asian elephants from one another when establishing new herds. However, because San Diego already had one African elephant integrated with its four Asian pachyderms, it was determined that the addition of Connie would not violate the accreditation standard.

“The African elephant we currently have had been in the movies, and she’s been here a number of years and gotten to know the Asians,” Simmons said. “Our goal in the future is to get the African we have with other Africans, and bringing Shaba here helps us accomplish that.”

Tucson zookeepers believe that their two elephants will eventually gravitate to their own species.

“Elephants are incredibly intelligent and capable of forming bonds, but it’s important to not underestimate their ability to form new bonds,” said VanPeenen. “What a wonderful opportunity for them to have this experience in their own lifetime, to interact with animals of their own species.”